(Euseb.loc.

cit.) It must be added, that Saint Dionysius only makes particular mention of the principal martyrs, [this is very doubtful .-- M.] and that he says, in general, that the fury of the Pagans against the Christians gave to Alexandria the appearance of a city taken by storm.

[This refers to plunder and ill usage, not to actual slaughter .-- M.] Finally it should be observed that Origen wrote before the persecution of the emperor Decius .-- G.] During the same period of persecution, the zealous, the eloquent, the ambitious Cyprian governed the church, not only of Carthage, but even of Africa.

He possessed every quality which could engage the reverence of the faithful, or provoke the suspicions and resentment of the Pagan magistrates.

His character as well as his station seemed to mark out that holy prelate as the most distinguished object of envy and danger.
[76] The experience, however, of the life of Cyprian, is sufficient to prove that our fancy has exaggerated the perilous situation of a Christian bishop; and the dangers to which he was exposed were less imminent than those which temporal ambition is always prepared to encounter in the pursuit of honors.